Counter God
by Nightlyy
Summary: His legend was something entirely different. His return was supposed to be glorious and he was supposed to bring forth salvation. This was something else. There was something very wrong about him, about his very existence in the world he knew nothing of and wanted no part of.
1. Chapter 1

Minato tried to count the amount of days, week, months and years it had been since he took his last breath but his soul, saddled with the burden of the Seal would hibernate after a few seconds of math and lull his senses into a deep slumber. The first few moments were especially excruciating, being trapped alone at the edge of reality with no sense of sound and vision but eventually, at least by now, Minato had grown accustomed to his primitive existence, only capable of existing and a few seconds of thought, nothing more.

At times, he would see flashes of blue and silver in his blind vision but aside from that, all was quiet and static.

All he was left with was sleep with no dreams, and Minato did not resist the embrace of soft death because when he was not trying to count the amount that had passed and even with his broken senses, the one memory of his friends and his world was prominent. He had given his young life in exchange for people who would never even come to know of his name, let alone his sacrifice and yet he felt no bitterness towards humanity or even Igor and Philemon for thrusting the burden of humanity on his shoulders.

The fear, uncertainty and bitterness, all of those human emotions become meaningless when he summoned Messiah at the end of his battle against Nyx. He was caught between a rock and hard place as he faced off the goddess of the night sky, but Minato swore that even if it was just a moment, when he finally unleashed the primal of the ultimate arcana, he felt that he had touched and ascended heaven.

He was chained, weak and barely even in existence but he still watched over his world and deep down, he knew that one day he would rise again when the will of the collective unconsciousness would cry for salvation.

Such was his legend.

When the world would call him.

When the masses would cry for salvation-

Minato lost his consciousness somewhere in the middle and the whispers dragged him back to dreadful sleep. He woke up sometime later but remembered nothing, and so the cycle continued.

Each time he woke up, Minato would recite the same to himself in a number of different ways but one detail was always constant in his stream of thoughts.

There would be a second coming.

When the world demanded...

_..._

One point in time, the cycle was broken and Minato came alive, his memories and senses flooding back into his being.

His sense of sight returned and Minato saw a void of darkness.

His sense of smell caught the after burn of magic and spells.

His sense of feel came last and his body was shredded by the chains that previously held him in place, as he was forcefully dragged out from the Seal, his soul caught up in the explosion of magic and decay. His physical body was buried long ago but even then, Minato felt the ripping and tearing of flesh and the rearrangement of his internal organs-

The Seal broke with an unearthly smash heard across the realm and his liberation shattered the gates. His scream broke down in his throat as the ungodly pain broke his senses in an entirely different manner, rendering him paralyzed to process what had happened.

All he knew...

What he last saw...

Erebus reaching out for Nyx.

The scene was forever burned into his soul but soon after, Minato lost consciousness and was thrown into another deep slumber. He did dream this time, with the catastrophe playing over and over in his head, his liberation from the Great Seal and Erebus awakening Nyx.

"..."

His personas were mourning and he knew what had happened.

Minato desperately sought the deep slumber that he had grown accustomed to but the dreams persisted, eating away at him for another unknown amount of time.

This was not his legend...

This is not what he was told...

When he touched...

...

Minato woke up for the third time as he ascended upwards through the darkness, eventually floating in what seemed to be a sea of mucky water. He saw the hideous condition of his body and rested his head back, trying to figure out where he was but all he could see were layers and layers of darkness ascending upwards to a blue night sky littered with billions of dimly lit stars.

"W-Where am I...?"

The place was vaguely familiar but at the same it was so much different, far more primitive than the realm he was accustomed to.

Minato tried to move but fell back in a heap, barely able to keep his eyelids open.

He felt weak.

So very weak...

Last time he was alive, he was the epitome of persona users with the universe in his grip but now, he felt weak, empty and alone without his companions at his side.

"Why...?"

Minato wondered what had happened but more than that, he lamented why he was the one caught up in whatever the hell had happened.

"My world..."

He clenched his left hand and it grew numb seconds later.

"My friends..."

Minato tried one more time to rise up from the sea but he splashed back down with a small cry, the exhaustion hindering him more than the damage he had suffered. He tried to sleep but remained conscious, just blankly staring at the stars in the vast expanse of the sky. He tried to search for Yukari, Junpei, and his other friends but none seemed familiar. He was almost puzzled by the mere existence of those above as all seemed so...

"..."

Finally, he felt a warmth. A very different of warmth, one that was capable of burning his soul to ashes. Straight ahead, he saw a light and with nothing else but the misery and his cursed fate, he reached out to touch the burning glow and almost instantaneously he felt a pull.

The same pull he felt when the same force dragged him out of the seal.

Minato was weakened and confused but he fought back against the force, screaming, struggling and clawing to grab a hold of something, anything that would help him but there was nothing around him to help. All he could was thrash in the mucky waters, demanding the entity to let him go-

**"Thou Art I..." **

When he was seconds away from getting pulled to some other hell, Minato heard the voice of his the last persona he had summoned-

"Messiah!"

His strength returned for a millisecond and Minato immediately took the chance, calling the ultimate persona to the forefront of his psyche and evoking the supreme entity from within. Time stopped for another millisecond but his ultimate persona exploded out of his sea upon the command of his master, the mere force of the summoning giving rise to a cyclone of water and mist in the place that was now illuminated in the light of the messiah.

The water came splashing down upon him and Minato started hearing whispers, even yells of people tearing into his mind-

He shook his head and grabbed onto his persona for support, directing-

"Morning Star!"

The attack was much slower than he remembered but his persona conjured up the sphere of holy light just in time to counter the explosion of light from the will, with the mesh of the two attacks blinding the persona user and transforming the once dark void into a land of never-ending light-

Minato felt the rush somewhere in the middle, the roars and screams of his numerous personas reawakening and rushing back into the sea of his soul, from his first persona Orpheus to his prime persona, Thanatos, with the sounds reverberating over and over again, the light filtering through his shut eye lids and stinging his corneas and his hold around the coffins of his persona tightening in the moment of uncertainty.

The sound of the explosion came delayed and that was the last thing his senses registered before all grew dark.

...

"Haah... Haah..."

Minato panted with his head on the ground, doubled over in exhaustion with a light shinning down upon him. He was no longer astral and just a soul as he was breathing, taking in and exhaling the little air around him and while he was tired from what he had gone through, his strength had returned along with his personas.

He took a peek back and saw a church, a very ominous structure with a stifling vibe emanating from every brick of the foundation. He looked up and saw a street lamp, dimly lit in the cold night.

"Where am I?"

This was definitely not Iwatodai-

Not even close-

Not wanting to attract attention, Minato made a run into the shadows and tried to make sense of the situation as he carefully made his way out of the district.

There were so many questions.

What happened at the Seal?

Was this the second-

The questions stopped flooding when he heard a footsteps, and by the click slash stomp, he could tell that the person was enraged and obviously looking for something given by the pauses in between the stomps and low hisses.

"Come out!"

The voice was more authoritative than Mitsuru, far more regal if that was possible, akin to that of a supreme king but at the same time, the enmity rivaled and even exceeded the vicious creatures that he had fought against. He had two options, come out in the open and figure something out or stay in the shadows and run away to get his bearings-

Stab-

Minato jumped to avoid a blade that was sent his way, easily avoiding the danger by a good margin of time but he came out in the open, facing the opposite direction and the source of danger-

A golden haired male with red eyes, clad in black pants and a ridiculous white mink.

"..."

His gaze was filled with arrogance, looking down at Minato like he was even worse than the filth under his boot but at the same time, there was a stronger emotion emotion behind that, one he was trying hard to mask-

Hate.

A shake of his head, the golden haired stranger launched another blade in the direction of the blue haired teen who yet again dodged the projectile with a tilt of his head and retreated into the shadows, running as fast as he could carry him while the footsteps followed, with an obvious increase in pace. Whoever the guy was, he was persistent and on his tail-

Straight ahead he saw a body of water. He looked back and saw the golden haired male following him with the hatred even more evident in his eyes.

Minato jumped into the body of water and his stalker let out a strong hiss when a drop of water splashed onto his boot. He had half a mind to let go of the restrains that he had placed upon himself to scout out the annoying blue haired mongrel and fill his body with steel but...

"Whatever..."

Next time.

Minato swam and swam, trying to work through the questions. He had numerous, ranging from the seal to the world he was currently in but...

He climbed up the pier and stood on solid ground.

His summoning...

Minato glanced up at the full moon, lower lip quivering when he struggled with the biggest question of them all.

His summoning...

His summoning was cursed...

There was something horribly wrong with his summoning, his body and his existence.

"..."

* * *

**I hope none of you remember me.**

**Just a test chapter of something that popped up in my head thanks to a debate with a friend. I'm not a fate expert by any means, having only watched the animation so bear with me. I mostly write for persona but the the nasuverse is one of the better developed ones I've seen. The lore is so much more deeper than persona but one thing I thought was a little lacking was the collective unconsciousness, as compared to the persona. Hell I maybe wrong on that too but this, consider this as a manipulation and merging of lore.**

**For those of you who got the message from the style and tone of the starting paragraph, good job. Again, this is merely a test fic and I am not sure if I will even update this again, but this idea was a little too interesting to pass up. I'd like to welcome opinions and hell, if anyone of you want to take this up, be my guest.**

**I THINK I have a basis of this down... I think...**

**Also, no rage please. You can get the point across while being civil.**

**Anyway, see ya... or maybe not. Cheers!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Two things I'd like to clear up. **

**1) Minato was never a sociopath in any of the source materials. He was nihilistic in the movies but eventually he grew to care for his friends and the world, in winter of rebirth, the whole scene with Elizabeth. His last few moments in the canon game showed that he had grown to love the world. This Minato is shaped by a back story which is pretty simple, he found his answer to life and he is a good guy, quiet but good. Also, the movies were terrible, panned by everyone except for the animation. Even then... I think Makoto in the movie had too much of a fat face. Read the manga, that is way better and easily pirated. **

**2) There is common misconception around the seal. Elizabeth is not finding a way to break the Seal. In the Arena games, she even theorized she could break it herself. Her mission is to change the heart of humanity and kill Erebus, so that she can free the soul of MC from the Seal. I hate the answer but even that hinted at the notion. I'd say something else to add upon this but... that would be spoilers. **

**Now that's out of the way, read on.**

* * *

Minato looked over his shoulder every once in a while to make sure the mink wearing madman was not on his tail. The brief encounter only added more questions to his numb mind, exhausted from the grief and confusion over what had happened in the past few minutes-

No, that was not right.

He had no idea how much time had passed in actuality. He had slipped in and out of slumber a number of times while living through the nightmare and he could not even begin to guess how long he had spent in the void.

Minato looked through his pockets and found nothing but interestingly, he was still in his school uniform, as ruffled and disheveled as it was on the last day-

"..."

Minato retched and slipped his next step, the world around him spiraling out of his vision when the god-forsaken memory of Erebus smashed through every corner of his psyche, then his soul, contaminating his holy spirit with a crude mixture of despair and horror.

"My world..."

Minato fell on his back as the sun slowly rose above his head but there was no warmth, only the miserable chill of loneliness, one that he was previously accustomed to in his childhood and now it had come back with a vengeance, as everything around him had being burned to the ground and he was left alone.

Again.

He made no move to get up from the ground and laid there, only the whispers and mourning of his personas giving an iota of comfort.

How could this happen?

Why did this happen?

After all the miles of crap he had to crawl his way through to stop Nyx...

"..."

"Ugh..."

Eventually, Minato stood back on his feet and rubbed his arms for some warmth, assessing his surroundings but his attempt to focus only dulled his brain and blurred his vision and he stumbled forward, grabbing onto the nearby wall to hold his vertical base with his head briefly resting against the structure to let out a few deep breaths.

"I have to do something..."

"Figure something out..."

Minato attempted to explore the unknown city and gather some information but every attempt to concentrate worsened his mental state, only increasing the confusion and misery. His stamina and composure was shot after only a few minutes of walking and Minato dragged his almost lifeless body to a back alley, locating a dirty, rotten blanket from the trash and wrapping the cloth around his body as he was desperate for some warmth. He sat with his back against the wall and lowered his head, eyelids drooping as he slipped into the clutches of Hypnos.

His only concern was the golden haired male he saw earlier. He did not seem the type to let go of anything easily.

Who was he?

How he summon...

"Ugh..."

"I should stop thinking..."

"I-I'll figure something out..."

"Somehow..."

"Someway..."

Slumber finally came for the exhausted blunet and Minato experienced the same pull that he did earlier, the inhumane, brutal force that wrapped around his body, just shy of a few ounces to turn his body to paste. Whoever was behind the force had no ounce of pity, remorse or empathy.

Minato cursed the force and he was thrown between dream and reality, falling inside a never ending void of black with a phantom hand wrapped around his throat, trying to squeeze the hope and dreams out of him-

Splash-

"Gack..."

Water rushed into his lungs briefly but his body rose up from the sea, floating upon the water-

"Not this again..."

Minato clenched his fists, wary of the unknown force that had tried to burn to ashes the last time he was in the godforsaken place. The presence from last time was there, lurking but at the same time omnipresent in the realm as he could sense the damn thing stitched into the very fabric of reality around him.

"Who are you?"

Minato said through gritted teeth, voice layered with emotion-

"What do you want?"

Layered with rage-

Light shone in the far corner of the realm and Minato shook his head, bringing his strongest persona to the front of his psyche for the worst case-

He could not recall the last time he had felt rage. His last few battles in the old world were not fought out of hatred.

His battle was Strega, he felt pity throughout the brief, one sided scuffle.

His battle with the appraiser, he fought with grief and false hope as he clashed blades with his best friend.

His battle was Nyx, he fought with nothing but desperation and the desire to save his world.

But somehow... This time...

He was fueled by rage, sick to his stomach because the lone entity beside him operated through destruction and was the anti-thesis of the soul that resided within him.

"Messiah."

Minato held onto the coffins of the massive persona as the savior rose up from the sea in a vortex of light and besides the splashing of waves below him, the blue haired teenager could hear the whispers like he did before, more prominent them before, almost as pitiful as whimpers from the oppressed-

Minato was blinded by the light that surged from the opposite direction and struck the massive body of his ultimate persona, scattering in the realm that was now a land of white. Minato held onto the chains of Messiah and concentrated through the burn on his mind and body, expelling a counter blast of holy light in response-

"Ugh!"

The force separated him from his persona and Minato was blasted back into the body of water, sinking deeper and deeper but the experience was very different than before-

His vision saw through the mucky waters and he breathed in the life around him.

The stars that were previously dim were now shimmering with light.

The sight quickly glitched out and Minato fell through the darkness, escaping the encounter for the second time-

...

Minato woke up from his sleep and gasped, almost falling forward because of the hard jerk that woke him up from the nightmare. His vision which was slow and blurry before, quickly returned and stabilized to perfect clarity. The headache quickly subsided and so did the numbness that had previously plagued his head and body and the blunet was able to think clearly, without the flicker of death that was previously in his every breath.

After taking a few more breaths, Minato found out that someone had replaced the dirty old cloth with a warmer blanket. To his side, he saw a water of bottle that someone else had left for him. He thanked whoever had the pity to help him and took a few sips of water as he mulled over his thoughts.

He had slept during early morning and it was late night now, as the streets were void of people with the cold weather driving people into their homes. The troubled sleep did work wonders for his health and sanity but Minato swore one promise.

To never sleep again as long as he was in this world.

That realm was dangerous and he was legitimately surprised that he had survived yet again.

As he felt much better, he got up and decided to work through what was going on. There was still the misery of truth that his old world was in ruins and the people there were victims of the apathy syndrome but he decided not to dwell and work, just work and figure something out.

"The streets are so dead..."

Minato said out loud as he wandered through the district. The weather was certainly a reason as to why people had retreated into their homes but there was something else going on, in the same city where he stood.

There was a clash going on somewhere.

A clash of something akin to his personas...

So similar but vastly different at the same time.

Minato decided to investigate the mystical presences that he sensed and ran through the city towards the source of the energy. As he got closer, he was proven correct that there was indeed a large scale battle going on, one that was vicious enough to shake the earth as the tremors raced from under his feet. Smoke, fire and the sick sound of metal against metal became more and more prominent but eventually, he arrived at the source of the conflict.

A shock-wave of physical force nearly blew him backwards but Minato planted his foot on the ground and saw through the mist and dust-

There were two people indeed battling near a graveyard.

One was a golden haired female clad in a blue dress and armor, holding onto what seemed to be... air?

Minato blinked and shook his head when her foe emerged from the skies above him...

A monster.

That was the best way he could put it. A massive, hulking monster with a slab of stone that he wielded like a toy, one that he brought down with ungodly force to pulverize the pavement into the debris, only barely missing the female who jumped out of the way, reversed the grip on her invisible weapon and rebounded from the gravestone behind her to storm back into the clash.

"What is going on here...?"

Minato saw two other people nearby, a female with black hair and a red sweater watching with concern, alongside a red haired male who was witnessing the same battle with shock and horror. The horror on the face of the boy made him walk a few feet forward, alerting the girl who was nearby, a short female with crimson eyes and silver hair.

"Tch, a witness?" Illya clicked her tongue, not wanting to disrupt the battle as her servant was slowly but surely winning the battle. Her binding stare had no effect on the witness, in fact he did not even look in her direction, attention firmly fixed on the battle that was going on. In fact, he almost took a stance like he was going to do something-

Minato indeed did not see the short girl glaring a hole through his skull. His only concern were the two people close to the chaotic battle, especially the boy as he was a lot more shaken than the female who seemed a little seasoned in the environment.

"Hey!"

Another clash of blades blew more dust and debris in his direction but Minato did not blink, staring ahead as the battle progressed into a stalemate of swords, the impact of the clash rattling the petite female who was quickly lifted off her feet and brutally smashed into nearby gravestone with sickening force and raw power-

The hulking monstrosity smashed the golden haired female face first into the ground and cleaved through the arrows that came his way, his insanity ridden eyes locking onto the two bystanders and even with the size of the him, the giant took off in a flash, and at the same time, Illya saw the blue haired idiot disappear from her sight.

"Switch..."

"What the...?"

The black haired female saw the rush and quickly moved, trying to avoid the forward charge of the opponent servant. She looked back and yelled at the boy-

"Shirou, move now!"

Shirou was frozen with a mixture of fear and horror, fear of the monster rushing at him and horror at the sight of Saber who was struggling to get up, the left side of her face covered in blood. He was slow, too slow to even register the yell from the female and by the time he turned his head, the slab of stone came for his stomach-

"Move!"

The slab of stone shattered whatever came in his way but there was no explosion of blood and guts like his master was expecting-

"Where did he go?" Rin wondered. Maybe Berserker had slashed Shirou out of existence-

"Where is he?" Illya stomped the ground with her feet, irate because she knew that Shirou was saved somehow. She decided to head down to the battle and observe herself what was going on.

"Shirou?" Saber had gotten to her feet and tried to track where her master had disappeared to and eventually, she did, locating the red haired boy who was away from danger-

Maybe...

Shirou could only stare at his savior who had appeared out of nowhere, like a phantom materializing out of thin air. His grip was still on the collar of his shirt but he soon released the hold and Shirou moved his head to take a good look at his face.

"W-Who are you?"

There was something about his savior that even made him forget about the giant horror that had tried to slice him in three. The aura he gave off was unlike anything he had ever felt before, like everything was going to be okay, eventually.

Minato ignored his question and made his way forward, switching as he casually walked up towards Berserker with a blank face. Rin had gotten a look at him as well by that point and she was just as confused.

"Is he a witness?" If he was, his death was essential but at the same time, the blue haired boy was different and after the speed that he had demonstrated, killing him was not going to be easy. "Hey, Archer?"

"..."

Illya had found her source of annoyance and she glared at the advancing boy with fury because he had ruined the battle by popping out of nowhere. His death was certain, whether he was a witness, servant or a master.

"Kill him, Berserker!"

"H-Hey!" Rin yelled at him as the giant obliged the command by his master and roared towards the skies, grabbing the slab of stone with both hands as the boy came close and closer-

Minato stopped in the middle and stared straight ahead, ignoring the yells from the two people behind him. Instead, he looked straight ahead at the monster who was no doubt going to rush at him and try to cleave him in half.

"Switch..."

With the first step that Berserker took, Minato switched his stance and a cloak of holy light flared around his body and while the monster did seem to notice or care, his master and older female gave small gasps in quick succession.

"That magic..." Rin muttered. She could sense something even beyond magecraft, magic that was lost to time, was coiled around his body and he had willed it to existence with a mere switch of his stance.

Illya had stopped Berserker to take a good look at the blue haired boy. Even in the face of her servant, he was fearless and the cloak around his body made her wonder. How on earth could an ordinary looking boy conjure up something that in the providence of the Gods. All it took was a switch of stance and a exhale of breath and he had befuddled everyone in the area.

That magic was forbidden.

Long forgotten.

With the only practitioners being...

"Berserker..." Illya called off her servant and took a few steps forward to just stare at him with her mouth slightly open in wonder. Eventually, she closed her mouth and gave a small, kiddish smile, one that made Minato twitch a tad bit. He sensed that the battle was over and pulled back, the cloak of light disappearing around his body and he turned his back as the giant had already starting moving away upon the command of Illya.

"Hehehe..." Illya was still looking at him, hands clasped around her back with the smile even wider than before. "Interesting."

Minato looked back at her one time and she walked off, almost skipping her way out of his vision.

With the battle finally brought to a close, without casualty, Minato made his way over to the female who was previously smashed into the ground. She had gotten up to her feet and was confused much like the rest of them.

A tall, silver haired male appeared beside Rin, blades in his hand to follow the rules of the tournament but his Master gave the command to stand still and only observe the stranger.

"Who do you think he is, Archer?" Rin asked, struggling to classify him as a human, servant, master or something even beyond.

"..." Archer said nothing as he knew nothing of the boy. But at the same time, there was this stench...

"H-Hey!"

Minato was taken aback at the sharp break in silence and he blinked, slowly turning around to see that the boy he saved earlier was the one who yelled at him. He stopped on his way towards the golden haired female and looked in the direction of the boy. Soon enough, the rest came around Minato, each struggling to put forward the first question but eventually, Rin did.

"Who... Who exactly are you?" Rin finally asked, speaking on the behalf of others.

"I'll answer that," Minato said, facing her direction. He looked around at the carnage, at the pools of blood and finally at the injured female who was holding onto her shoulder, trying to pop the bone back into place. "Before that..."

"Tell me what is going on here..."

He had walked into something big.

Something bad...

* * *

**Another build up chapter. I thank everyone for the reviews, did not expect the amount of feedback such at this but again, thanks. I don't know what will happen in the future, I might lose my mojo like I am prone to and this goes on hiatus like most of my stories do. But, in case... I have a few points. I hate wasting time of people when you can read something else that fits to your liking so here is the disclaimer of sorts.**

**1) It seems a few of you know me, well, then you know the genre and theme I write for. This will be brutal, sad and sure I'll sprinkle a few jokes in (like that dumb mink) but overall, this will not be a story for slice of life. **

**2) If I do see the end of this, this will be short and quick. In that token, not everyone will get CD and screen time, only a select few which build up the crux of the story because if I do finish this, it will be no more than 20, no chance. Of course, you can stretch this idea into a loooong story but I don't have time. Again, if someone else wants to take this idea, be my guest. **

**3) Again, need to be civil. I like reviews and I welcome opinion of every kind, critique and analysis and what not. There is no need to be passive aggressive, haughty or high and mighty over fictional entertainment. I write for fun, shits and giggles and I hope your read this just for that reason too. **

**4) I will make unpopular decisions. Hell, I can see a lot of question marks and possible rage thrown by way because I WILL take one in the future that will seem stupid and retarded. Think of such decisions in the long run and theorize, that is what makes stories fun. **

**If you are still here after going through those 4 points, glad to have you onboard and I hope you are entertained. I once again would like to thank guest, I can't say much because spoilers but I appreciate the indepth reviews. I did read a good bit of the wikia and I think I have a working story. I hope you enjoy and I hope to see you again.**

**Just one tiny tip to all...**

**There is another way of looking at this, beside the conventional one. **

**With that, I hope to hear from you and see ya!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Heyy, third chapter. Again guys, this will be short so it won't have large amount of content where Minato gets bombed by info-dump. This is like the last chapter that focuses on world and initial character building. **

**Also, I'd like some help. Think of it as a game. Crossovers are faaar more complex than normal stories so let's give and take. Usually, people make a servant stat sheet for these crossover but I'm curious to see what you folks think his parameters should be. I'll list a few of his feats and you tell me what level he should be at. Don't be shy and give it a throw, I want to see the general consensus about how OP or not Minato is, giving gameplay feats and from the manga and movie (ew). So, you teach me and I'll teach, Poke-**

**Wrong fandom. Here we go.**

**Strength: Wields Mjölnir and Leviathan (blade of Surt that brings Ragnarok) without issue. Can generate enough torque to slash and punch his way into giant shadows. Can boost his strength double with power charge. Also went toe to toe with Liz (they definitely did battle and while it is not sure he defeated her, Elizabeth did admit she was pushed to the limit, and this is the same chick who casually tossed Erebus, a creature even bigger than a mountain to the moon with one hand) Also, he can parry away the strength shield of Nyx with a one handed swing and that crushed the ground (Yes, the dummy finally found out that he had a sword in his hand, after 4 movies of not using it)**

**Defense/Endurance: Dude can take a bullet, a canon ball, a shot from a tank. Can survive attacks from the heavens (Morning Star, God's hand) and godly energy (Megido/Almighty attacks) Also, his personas provide complete resistance to various elements and physical force. He can also get the omnipotent orb that blocks everything but almighty from his persona but he doesn't have that here. Even in the movie, he stood up from a shockwave that destroyed the bridge with no visible damage and got the sword of Nyx slammed into his body with Nyx Queen charged up. His fusion technique Valhala mirrors Avalon (norse counterpart) and that's his mid level spell as infinity blocks everything, seen as a type of omnipotence.**

**Agility: In gameplay and manga, he was able to dodge lighting and I think he did that in the movie too. His fusion spell Cadenza doubles his speed and he has various other buffs. I can definitely say he is faster than Akihiko and the dude dodged a machine gun bullet from just an inch away.**

**Mana: I don't know what exactly this means but... he's got like numerous magicians chilling around in soul, including the teacher of Lancer. **

**Luck: He did everything and everyone and got away with it. Need I say more? **

**Noble Phantasm: He can shoot a gust of wind and small fireballs to summon attacks from the heavens, not to mention his fusion spells are among the most powerful in the series. Armageddon is stated to be able to end the world, nuff said. **

**Those are all from the top of my head but there are more. He can get mastery over any weapon with arms master and reduce his spells by 50 with spells master, all of this stacks with apt pupil and other spells that increase his critical hit. Overall, I think Minato is OP as shit, and like Gilgamesh, he has a hard counter to almost every ability of the FSN servants. The biggest feat I think is him going toe to toe with Nyx avatar (He fought the thing alone in the manga and the movie, and you could fight him alone in the new cycle) and while most people don't read the p3 clubbook cause they never really put it out there, Nyx avatar carries the psyche of Nyx and is stated to be the grim reaper, with her powers. Also, Nyx is an alien supreme deity called the star eater, the size of a celestial and it is stated she can one shot planets and wipe out humanity with a thought. **

**So, that's that. There is no need to select skills that would suit him. Just give me your idea of where he would stand in the ranks. Just start from E to EX. Thanks to anyone who helps here. I can go forward with my own idea but I'd like to ask the readers too. People power!**

* * *

The first thing that Saber did when she got her faculties in order and damage under control was that she walked up to Minato, the blue haired enigma who had saved Shirou and regarded him with a slow nod and a slight bow of her head as a token of her appreciation. "Thank you for saving my Master."

Minato bowed his return slightly in return. The air around the female was regal as well, not to the level of the mink wearing stalker but she was definitely no less than a king either. "Don't worry about it but..."

Minato faced the person in question, the red haired boy named Shirou who he had saved from... Berserker? That was the name the little girl gave him and the same name he responded to. Moreover, the blonde was called Saber and the tall male in black and red was named Archer. Those definitely were not the names of personas but he could not shake the familiar feeling the two exuded.

"You called him your Master?" Minato questioned and took another look at the two persona like energies around him. Archer and Saber. They were definitely not ordinary humans but he could not call the creatures from the sea of souls. "Are you his...?"

"I am his Servant," Saber said quietly. There was still a lot she did not know about the boy and normally she would not divulge information related to something as mysterious as the Holy Grail Wars but she was in a sort of debt. If he had not stepped up to save Shirou, that would have meant death for her master and another broken dream for her.

"Servant? Master?" Minato mulled over the information. That was one fancy way to refer to persona users and personas...

Meanwhile, Rin stood a few feet away, biting her lower lip as she mulled over the next course of action. According to Archer, he was not a servant or a master, as he had no command spells on his body and yet, there was this monstrous swell of mythical energy just coiled around him in form of a shield and he had proved something even beyond that just a few moments ago.

If he was a witness then he needed to be dealt with but... At the same time, she had thought Shirou was a witness too and she had helped him. After driving away Berserker and demonstrating the miracle, he had at least earned the right to get information.

"Fine, I'll tell you," Rin said, walking up to him with a small smile. She had reasons to be thankful too because that monster of Illya was not slowing down and she was not sure whether the combination of both Archer and Saber was going to be enough. "You did help us but first... are you a Master or a Servant?"

"I do know what that means," Minato replied and put forward his own question. "Are you a persona user?"

"A... persona user?" Shirou questioned.

"Correct, is that girl..." Minato gestured towards Saber. "Your persona?"

"No..." Shirou shook his head, having a little difficulty telling him who she actually was. "She is my Servant..."

"That is an odd way to refer a persona but sure, I can accept that," Minato nodded.

"No, I feel we are confused," Rin stomped her foot to get his attention. "Let's sit down and talk. I'll explain what is going and I'd like to know who you are as well."

"Let's do it my house," Shirou offered with a small chuckle. He was glad the blue haired teenager had showed up and saved Saber from further injury. "It's not that far from here."

"Okay," Minato agreed and followed the way Shirou lead him. At least he was going to get some information about this strange event because the guy with the mink did not reasonable to talk to. Eventually, after a short walk in silence, he reached Shirou's home, a large scale building built like a traditional old house.

"Hey come on," Shirou urged, opening the door for him.

"Thank you," Minato said as he stepped inside.

"I should be thanking you for saving Saber," Shirou said with a genuine happiness and relief in his tone. "If you hadn't shown up then she..."

Minato just stared at him, with a small frown on his face. He had thanked him for saving the life of his 'Servant' and while that was gracious and noble, the boy clearly had little to no value and regard to his own life.

Tch. He reminded him of Jin and Takaya, those two also placed little value on their lives.

Shirou guided him to his Living Room and Minato sat down upon insistence, under the watchful eye of Rin and her Servant.

"You can stop staring at me," Minato said as he glanced around the house. "I mean you no harm."

"W-What!? I was not staring at you!" Rin spat, getting flustered and looking away with an audible growl.

Huh, and she reminded him of Yukari.

Anyway...

"Which city is this?" Minato asked.

"You don't know?" Shirou blinked. "This is Fuyuki City."

"Fuyuki?"

"So you are not from around here," Rin deduced.

"No. Have you heard of a place called Iwatodai?"

Shirou and Rin thought for a few seconds but they answered in negative. Minato held in a sigh. So Iwaotdai was not a location in this world, which meant he was in a different realm entirely.

"So you are from Iwatodai?" Tohsaka said after the few seconds of police. "Never heard of a place such at that. Well, you might as well tell us who you are."

"You first," Minato said, rubbing his temple as he tried to calm down. Finding out his home city did not even exist did ruffle him and Rin caught that, deciding not to press the question further and start her side of the story.

"Alright..."

Minato was not the type to be easily surprised, having fought supernatural creatures in a hidden hour and even taking on the goddess of the night sky but even then, the stuff the girl was telling was a little hard to believe. He had no problems accepting the existence of magecraft, magic and myths and legends given form. Even the idea of the same entities fighting each other was not far-fetched as he had fought other persona users but...

But a death-match battle royal between seven Masters and Servants for a dubious, most likely duplicated artifact called the Holy Grail?

A battle to the death...

In a city as dense and as populated as Fuyuki...

The girl did not know even know the full details and yet there was no ounce of hesitation in her voice about participating in the killing game. There was also the little nugget about legends and heroes being moved into the ring of reincarnation and made gods, which was vaguely familiar to the collective unconsciousness and the sea of souls but the whole absurdity of the Holy Grail Wars was...

"Do you honestly believe all this?" Minato said after digesting the information.

"Well yes," Tohsaka shrugged, pointing towards Saber. "She is standing right there. The command spells are on his hand and you just witnessed a battle between the two."

"No, do you honestly believe that a magical artifact is waiting for you at the end to grant your wishes?" Minato said with a frown. "That is such a dubious concept. Have you ever seen the Holy Grail with your own eyes?"

"Well no, but..." Rin trailed off and shook her head, almost glaring at the blue haired Fool. "Look, I don't even care about the wish. I am fighting to win, nothing else."

"So you are killing people just for the sake of winning?" Minato shot back. Rin fell silent after that but he could tell that she was annoyed and was searching for something to throw at him.

"No, forget that," Minato stood up by that point, evidently annoyed by the conversation. The Grail selecting consenting mages for a death battle royal was one thing but... "What about the people of this city?"

Tohsaka snapped her head away from his line of sight, biting her lower lip.

"What about the collateral damage cause by the battles? What about the lives lost as a side effect of Servants fighting?" Minato said, demanding to know the answer. "What about the graves these two defiled during the last battle?"

Not even Saber and Shirou were able to answer the now irate persona user.

"The... damage is covered up by the church," Rin explained, still not looking him in the eye. "That goes for everything, the surroundings and the lives lost and any... witnesses to the Grail Wars are assassinated as well."

Shirou clutched the healed wound on his chest. He knew that all too well.

Rendered speechless by the revelation, Minato just stood in silence with his stare on Tohsaka, occasionally darting towards Saber and her Master. The witnesses were exterminated? Who on earth came up with the inhumane tournament and for what cause? What on earth were they hoping to accomplish?

"So..." Minato started. "If I was not strong enough... you would have killed me too?"

Rin said nothing, giving a low sigh in response.

"Hey, calm down," Shirou spoke up, trying to calm him down. Given that he managed to stun everyone from Tohsaka to Berserker, he was not sure that Saber in her current condition would be enough to stop his rampage. Archer spawned in the room in well, just in case the enigmatic blue haired boy would attack his Master but eventually, after a tense minute of unnerving silence, Minato slumped his shoulders but the glare remained on his face.

"Look... I can't tell you everything," Rin managed to speak up, well aware that the expression of the face of Minato was one of utter disgust. "But it is not like I make the rules."

"Hey, Tohsaka isn't bad," After just listening to the whole conversation, Shirou spoke in defense of Rin. "I was thought to be a witnesses too and was almost killed by another Servant but... Tohsaka healed me and saved me from death."

"I'm not calling her an evil person but why even partake in this senseless slaughter?" Minato questioned. "Anything that promises to be a holy artifact capable of granting wishes should be destroyed."

Shirou felt Saber twitch a tad next to him, her stoic melting into a small glare directed towards the blunet.

"That spreads nothing but chaos, as evident by you four," Minato continued.

"You are out of line here," Saber finally spoke up. "Are you saying that you would pass up the opportunity?"

Minato did indeed have a wish, a desire to revive his now desolated world but getting there by murder and chaos was never the right option. He was not going to forsake people whether he knew them or not.

"I would not..." Minato said after a second of contemplation. "Not if it meant forsaking innocent people who don't even know what is going on."

"I suggest you calm down," Archer finally spoke up, standing next to Rin who seemed a little flustered and in doubt. "Nobody from the four of us have murdered anyone yet."

"Yeah," Shirou nodded. "And I don't intent to either. I did not even want to be part of these Grail Wars."

Minato took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. At the very least, Tohsaka did supply him with information and she was not an evil person as she was clearly uncomfortable about the damage suffered by the city and the people. Standing in Shirou's house and yelling at them was not going to change much, especially if it was a centuries old ritual that had been going on ever since.

"Okay, okay..." Minato calmed down. "I apologize for my volume."

Shirou could not really blame him. He was startled by the whole news and revelation that he was chosen as a Master that he did not even have the time or sense to think about the innocents that were to be caught up in the mess. Another silence lingered on in the living room, with Minato contemplating his course of action.

That hulking monster had stopped after a small demonstration of his power. If he could freeze the other servants...

Or send them back to the ring of reincarnation and put a stop to the Grail Wars early...

Minato shook his head again and faced Shirou. He could figure out a plan later but first... "May I use your phone if that is okay with you?"

Shirou blinked, a little glad to break the tense conversation. "Sure! It is by the entrance."

Minato nodded and left the living room, with the other four individuals processing the little argument.

Shirou was somewhat glad, having found someone who shared his views about the Grail Wars.

Saber was visibly annoyed. She had already been robbed of a chance and that would not happen again. If she had to cross swords with the blue haired boy, then so be it.

Rin was visibly shaken from the little back and forth. While she did think for a second that Minato was going to blow up, the reality of collateral damage that he forced her to see was far more unsettling.

Archer was trying to figure who the blue haired boy was. He was preaching about saving people but his method was not nauseating as someone else he knew. What on earth was he?

First number that Minato gave a rang to was Mitsuru's.

The number didn't exist.

Yukari.

Invalid.

Akihiko.

Invalid.

The Dorm.

Invalid.

Minato rested the receiver after almost crushing the device in his grip. He could not remember the last time he was this badly ruffled. His friends either did not exist in the world or they were in different locations across the globe. There was so much he could not understand and process and from the look of things, he was stuck and caught in the middle of the stupid Grail Wars after showing his face to not one but three Servants and Masters.

"Hey..."

Minato snapped out of the despair and saw Rin walking towards him. Before she could talk, Minato spoke up firsthand-

"I apologize," Minato said. "I was the one who asked you for information and I was the one who lost my temper, but, the whole idea..."

"I understand," Tohsaka said with a sigh. "H-Hey, you don't really have to kill the Masters to win the War. You just have to finish all the other servants!"

"That was not my point," Minato replied. "Regardless, let's not start that up again."

"I agree," Rin agreed. "I cannot explain everything but I know someone who can."

"Oh?"

"Yes, he is the supervisor of this War. His name is Kirie Kotomine and he runs a church in the neighboring town," the black haired female explained and Minato thought back to the place where he woke up. In the neighboring town...?

"I have been there before," Minato said, more to himself but Rin caught that.

"Huh?" the girl tilted her head. "You have?"

"Yes, when I woke..." Minato shook his head and waved a hand. "Never-mind. I'll go see him. Thank you for the help."

"Oh, don't worry about it..."

Minato hurried out of the house and Rin stood there smiling, until...

"HEY WAIT!"

Rin yelled at him but he was already gone.

"Ugh!"

All the talk about Grail Wars and she had forgot to ask him even one question! He ran out of the place without explaining anything about himself, or hell, did not even gave away his name. The magus was infuriated and had half a mind to send her servant after him.

"YOU BETTER COME BACK!"

Minato ran all the way back to the place where had woken up. He looked around the town and saw no one, which was ominous beyond words. At least the Dark Hour transmogrified people, the residents of the city were just nowhere to be seen and the silence was deadly, like the whole place was a Ghost Town.

Did they use magecraft to knock out everyone at night?

"Tch..."

All the information about Servants and Masters was ringing in his head as he did not where to draw the distinction. They were not much different than his personas, legends and myths given form and under the command of the user but from what he understood, the obedience of Servants was not absolute and they had no connection to the sea of the soul, but to a place called the ring of reincarnation.

Oh well...

He was going to get some more answers, by the man who was the supervisor of the god-forsaken tournament.

In the most unholy church he had ever seen.

Eventually, he reached the building and slowly a step into the pathway. When he did, a mental shock-wave of agony flashed across his psyche, visibly making him cringe. The split second feeling went as soon as it came but the misery made him reel as if he had stepped into hell.

He was correct.

There was something very, very wrong about the place.

"Ugh..." Minato made his way towards the entrance, slowly pushing the door open and stepping inside. The inside was deserted and void of people but the feeling subsisted, only more prominent as he felt like there was hell under his feet.

"Another visitor?"

Someone came from the other side of the altar and Minato had to look up to get a look at his face as he was several inches taller. The wild card tilted his head, noting the presence around him was not normal, not to mention he seemed completely at peace in the church, as if nothing was wrong.

"How may I help you?"

"..."

Kirie did not repeat for a second time and he resorted to staring at the blue haired boy who had walked down the doors and into his church. Currently, he was looking around with a frown on his face and look of disgust and likewise, Kirie noticed the almost otherworldly air around the boy who was no more than older than the seventh master that visited not too long ago.

"Is this... really a church?" Minato asked after a while.

"Why yes," Kirie confirmed, a little unnerved at how suspicious the blue haired boy was acting. "May I HELP you?" he asked again, looking to drive him of the church as soon as possible.

"Tohsaka Rin sent me here," Minato paused and coughed a few times. The vibe of the place... It was like the church had been built on a defiled cemetery, and he could almost hear the cries of people from under the floor. "What on earth have you done to this place?

"As you can see, this is just a regular church," Kirie explained. "If you have no business then I suggest you leave."

"There is something under the the floor..." Minato said with a glare, looking down at the wooden floor. He had half a mind to power charge his leg and blast through the wood but...

The disdain in Rin's when he spoke his name was not something lost on Minato and now, he could see why.

If Shirou's lack of value of his life reminded him of Takaya, Kirie was on another level to even Takaya.

He could sense that Shirou, even Rin were good people caught up in the mess but Kirie seemed... blackened...

Like he was wrapped up in sin and anarchy...

Fitting that such a god-awful tournament would have a bastard as the supervisor.

"There is nothing under the floor, LEAVE," Kirie lost his temper and his normally calm voice broke upon the last word. Minato did not move and only glared with more hostility. He was definitely hiding something, that was evident from him reaction and the fact that he was almost yelling at Minato leave because he had something to hide. The priest was cursed and rotten, that was clear after a single exchange and he was perfectly willing to rip the rotten structure to pieces and find the truth but...

Tohsaka was the one who sent him here and blowing up the floor of the church which was overseen by her possible acquaintance and starting a fight without discussing and taking her in confidence was not the best course of action.

Minato almost barfed and started walking towards the exit. He stopped at the doorway and looked back with another glare, almost dizzy due to the demonic and unholy atmosphere which was even worse on the inside.

"I will be back to expose this sham of a church," Minato swore, his piercing glare making the emotionless priest take a step back. The feeling was mutual, as he found the boy his very anti-hesis, pretty much everything he despised. "You have done something to this place. Something under the floor and next time, I will not stop."

Minato slammed the door shut and Kirie walked towards the door, hand almost burning when he touched the piece of wood the boy had swung open.

How did Rin Tohsaka know someone like him?

He was no Master.

Not a Servant.

Something above and beyond...

A Wild Card...

Kirie contemplated on how to deal with the boy...

All he knew was that he needed to be dealt with and quick.

...

Minato regained his senses and the rage disappeared as soon as he came out of the church. If he had to guess, there had been a large scale slaughter under the floor as he could almost hear the agonizing groan of dead spirits, like a cry...

A cry for salvation.

Figuring a long walk would be good for his sanity, Minato slowed down his steps on the way back to Emiya household. He was going to talk to Rin about the ordeal and then return next night to blow up the church and find out what the shady priest was hiding.

He had barely spent a day in the city and he was already disillusioned by the way they operated.

A tournament that was sure to guarantee death and a massive amount of collateral damage.

Heroic spirits that were basically stolen from a place of higher existence.

The same tournament overseen by a shady priest who had a black heart.

He wondered...

This world...

Was this world even worth saving-

"UGH!"

Minato almost collapsed upon the next step, his vision blackening out momentarily followed by a wave of cold that made him feel that he had disappeared from the plane of existence, but the phenomena quickly subsided and Minato stood at the same spot, wide eyed, trying to figure out yet another mystery.

What had just happened?

Everything from his mind, body and soul...

He felt as if every last atom of his cursed body was destroyed and then remade-

"You look ill,"

Minato snapped out of the mystery and looked over his shoulder and then directly up when he caught a shadow. His sight followed the figure and he saw a tall male with blue hair and red eyes standing on top of a lamppost, clad in blue tights, a small amount of armor with large, red spear resting on his shoulders-

"That spear..."

Minato took a better look and his mind clicked into place.

Gae Bolg...

He knew of the spear.

In fact, he had used the same spear to pierce the hearts of so many shadows in Tartarus.

The cursed spear that sealed fate before even the weapon was launched.

Rin had told him that servants were mythical heroes and legend... and there was no question who this servant was...

Cú Chulainn.

One of his most trusted personas once upon a time.

Lancer caught his target staring at the spear and he gave a small smirk, jumping down and landing a few feet away from Minato. The boy was shorter and did not seem to possess a tough build but at the same time...

Minato looked around to assess his surroundings. There were no dwelling houses nearby but the area was still a little too out in the open. He looked back at Lancer with his stoic face, not moving from the spot despite a few small feints the servant gave, hoping for a response.

"You don't seem like a servant but..."

Orders were orders.

"Draw out your weapon and let's fight,"

"I don't have a weapon," Minato said with a shake of his head. "And I don't intend to fight you."

"Too bad," Lancer gave a grin, nothing evil but one of enthusiasm. Minato could tell he was almost eager to face him. "You will have to."

"There is no reason for us to fight,"

"Well, let me give you one..." The man clad in blue said, slightly crouching down and holding his spear in a manner reminiscent of his persona.

Minato clicked his tongue and decided to respond as there was no other choice. He took the same stance and the same wild aura of holy light spawned around his body like a cloak, stunning the once cheeky spear-man into dumb-folded silence and he was left to just stare in surprise and wonder at the boy.

The mana in the air froze and multiplied and Lancer felt like time had stopped for a second or two.

The aura around the boy...

Lancer regained his competitive grin while Minato just stared ahead, eyes locked with seconds away from a battle.

* * *

**Thankfully the info dumps are over. And first time writing a servant battle so let's see how this goes. **

**Reviews. **

**VolcanicFlare: Yup, perfect setting to trigger the messiah.**

**Saintoshia: While I'm sure Minato would be happy to save Sakura... this... won't be HF's route, sorry. Still, hope you enjoy.**

**Guest: Eyy, why are you saying sorry? I really appreciate your reviews. And good catch on the mage association part, that is definitely a point to be noted but I don't Illya would send those cops after him, I'd say he would want to study Minato since he did a form of third magic, something that her family practiced. I thank you for the praise but I don't think I'll make a Persona x DxD crossover. I like the lore of the latter but the fanservice at every chapter killed the whole thing for me, especially after what you said. Did the dude seriously save the world so he could keep on touching boobs? FFS! Again, there is no need to say sorry, keep shooting those questions and I hope you enjoy.**

**Serph: I have a feeling this won't be the last time I'll get asked this question so let me put up a summary.**

**Let's see. For starters, he would blow up the place where he woke up, or die trying. More of a chance that he escapes and wakes up outside the church. He'd throw a joke about finally seeing a church made to his liking and then start laughing until Gil shows up. Minato would unleash an ungodly and unholy rant and barrage of insults from the kingdom of babylon down to the last atom of Gil once he found out his identity and that he was even more arrogant than him. The two would fight and FM would unleash a geddon into the portals to wreck his treasure, tears off the armor with his bare teeth and blasts his throat with a dark geddon. Maybe he steals the rest of the treasures and tosses his disintegrating body into the water, maybe spits for extra insult. Then he hears about the battle going on, gets there, watches and giggles at the damage and does not bother helping Shirou who gets blasted and gets half of his stomach blown off. He would then step in because of the intrigue when Shirou gets healed up, saves him for his own benefit and murders Berserker with like a geddon down his mouth, or maybe Last Judges him into pieces. He acts a little friendly and gets info but the moment Shirou says hero of justice, he snaps his neck, tears his body in half and physically digs avalon out of his body. He then beats Saber to death with the same thing, murders Rin and Archer and heads back to the Church. There, he gets his boot kissed by Kirie and learns about the holy grail war and the corruption. He goes on a happy murder spree of masters and servants in record time. He murders Illya and plants her heart in his own body and Avenger tries to take him over until Minato beats him into submission with his numerous personas. He then wishes for the grail to explode and the thing bursts through inside of him, tainting his soul and body with all the world's evil but he takes it, uses his dark Messianic soul to channel every evil into his soul and body and quickly unleashes an apocalypse that wipes out humanity. He there then labelled as Beast Omega and the dying word sends out several grand sevants until he is finally defeated by Messiah.**

**Bonus ending: He beats every last grand servant and opens the gates to the root of the world. Damages the mythical records or just writes his name in everything and laughs for the rest of eternity if one exists after he is done. That's it, add in a lot of fucks, narcissism and rants about Hamuko being a bitch. ._. You're welcome FM Fans! And thank you for the review. **

**Hekkasi: It's UBW route but, Minato's presence will change a lot of stuff, so I'd say this is more of a custom route.**

**Guest: Thank you! Given how complex nasuverse is, a little nerf was to be expected.**

**Fleyja Yuki : Lancer will find that out, hahaha.**

**gold crown dragon : and he got triiiiiiigered.**

**Anthony Galupo : We'll see. Thanks.**

**Bagrat: Cheers! Welcome aboard!**

**guest t: ... is that a middle finger at the end? ._. kidding aside, glad you like the story and my attempts at humor.**

**Guest: Thank you very much for the help. This does add more ideas and I'll address this in the next AN cause there is a lot to go through. Regardless, thank you! They sure helped.**

**Boomer: Yes? And? **

**Oh shit, those got long. Again guys, no more than 20. For those who follow my other work, once Bloodlust is over, I'm done. **

**I hope you enjoy this.**

**Do review.**

**I'll see you guys soon.**

**Cheers.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Special final ultimate author note: Sorry guys this is getting dropped. I did a lot of research on the series (which is essential if you want to write a story) and I don't think this will work. While I have a working story and while the concepts of FSN and Persona are similar, I think my viewpoint and interpretation is a lot different than most of the folks. The series leaves a lot to interpretation and speculation and I feel that is what causes discord and trust me, if I continue the fic, there will be A LOT of discord.**

**So this is getting dropped.**

**Only 3 chapters but regardless, I'd like to thank everyone who stuck by this short ride (Special shout to the guest who helped a lot) and of course, everyone who reviewed, faved and followed. **

**Cheers! hope you find something even better to enjoy.**

**Update: Fuck it. I'm going to continue. Partly because this will haunt and partly because of you guys. Now no matter the reception this will see the next, all 15 chapters of it! Besides... With the coronavirus going on... I literally have nothing else to do. ._.**

**Speaking off, be careful guys. Shit has been so crazy and it is honestly hard to keep up. As a tip, try to inhale hot air through your noise from anything, whether it be a hair dryer or a heater. The virus stays in the nasal cavity and dies to heat. Sounds dumb but worth a shot.**

**Expect an update soon. I promise. **

**See ya. **


	5. Chapter 5

Minato took the first few moments to study his surroundings and then his opponent who stood opposite to him, with barely ten feet of distance between them. His first object was to mitigate the damage to the surroundings, even if there were no dwelling houses nearby, destruction of any kind would be sure to stir up panic. Given the agitated, almost excited look on the face of the blue clad male, Minato figured that he would take the lead and set the pace and he was fine with that for the time being. All he had to do was make him follow.

Secondly, his opponent was no doubt the Hound of Culann, Cú Chulainn, the wielder of the cursed spear Gae Bolg. The signs as regards to his identity were certainty there and easy to connect but he also had a sixth sense when it came to his identity as the same Irish legend presided in his soul. He could also sense the legend before him was a servant, much like Archer and Saber.

"Well, ready or not," Lancer gave a small warning but the blue haired teenager did not move from his spot, still contemplating on how he would go ahead in the battle. There was a small idea in the back of his mind, finishing the servant right where he stood and then moving on to the next, one by one to put an end to the War as quickly as possible-

Lancer did not give a second warning and bolted to close the distance, stopping the thought process of the persona user who settled on fighting to the level of his opponent for the time being. He quickly switched to Satan, a persona with a high level of luck just to be on the safe side and waited as Lancer swung the spear from two feet away, taking advantage of the length of his weapon to nudge Minato to move and the wild card did, ducking under the red lance and catching the next swing from the corner of his eye as the spear came back, brushing past his fringe and allowing him some space to disengage and move.

"Sukukaja..."

Lancer quickly pressured the shorter blunet backwards with a flurry of thrusts, the first few one being slow and half-assed but he quickly built up the speed and power when he saw the ease at which the persona user was moving through the barrage, actually looking around the place after every missed attempt-

"Damn you!"

Minato backed off to avoid the stab from above and placed a hand to his chest, followed by a click of his tongue as the servant came running, letting out an infuriated shout when he saw Minato moving backwards-

"Stand your ground and fight!"

Another swing breezed past his face and Minato looked the slightly irate servant in the eye-

"I will..."

The next miss of the weapon led to Minato moving into range, channeling a series of buffs to his right leg and then kicking the legs from under the servant which sent him crashing to the ground but only briefly as he quickly jumped back to his feet but the split second allowed Minato a bit of time and he quickly ran out of the area, having a general idea about the city after running around to search for the church.

"Tch, he sent me to scout out this?" Lancer lamented but he quickly followed, intrigued by the speed and calmness of the boy. There was something very different about him, as evident by the aura he had summoned to freeze the mana in the air and stop time for a brief second. "Heh..."

Guess the bastard was right to be a little wary.

Minato quickly ran away from the main area and looked back to see the servant on his tail. He needed to draw the battle away from city, to a place where nobody could walk in and witness the two.

"That park..."

An ominous looking park in the middle of the city, with not a soul in sight-

The sound of a lance slicing through the air caught his attention and Minato looked back, swiftly ducking to avoid the spear that was thrown his way and catching the kick that came for his midsection, gripping the limb and then hurling the servant towards the other side to gain distance-

Lancer pushed a hand against the ground and easily regained his balance, landing on his feet and casually picking up the spear that he had hurled towards the other blunet. He sat on the soles of his feet, a far more prominent grin stretched across as his face as he eyed his opponent.

"You ran from the first battle..." Lancer pointed out. "This is gonna get worse for you."

Minato frowned, channeling another series of buffs of speed before he bolted towards the servant, coming up into his range and shaking his head as he weaved through the swing of the weapon, slammed a fist up his gut and then took off once more, but not before whispering a warning of his own-

"Don't follow me and I consider this battle done,"

Lancer growled and hacked, definitely feeling the punch that Minato had smashed against his stomach. The kid definitely had the speed and power to keep up with servants but there was something more, and Lancer knew for a fact that he was holding back. Those little whispers boosted his speed in a matter of seconds and now he was bent on finding out his true potential.

He didn't even bother utilizing his rune to track him down as he could see the boy running straight ahead, still in his view and the servant gave chase, this time not catching up to him in order to see what he was up to.

"What the heck is he planning...?"

Minato came to a stop when he reached the park he had seen before and almost immediately, he felt the cursed soil of the area cry out to him, briefly rattling the persona user because this was just another hell he had walked into. The church was rotten no doubt, but this place seemed home to a brutal massacre, and the air was thick, almost as if the unfortunate souls of the tragedy still lingered on.

The entire city felt like a plaything of something utterly demonic.

What kind of world was this...?

Minato shook off the question and looked back when he heard footsteps of the servant catching up to him. The servant didn't heed his warning like he had hoped but oh well, a battle against the so called heroic spirits would serve as a good gauge as to where he stood.

"Your hit and run ways are insulting," Lancer said after he came to a stop, another teen feet of distance between them.

Minato tilted his head and took a good look at the red eyed male for the first time. "I consider your hairstyle more of an insult."

Lancer stomped onto the ground and Minato actually took a stance this time as he was no longer concerned about damaging nearby property with the area far away from the residential houses and from the vibe of the place, he was sure that nobody would come within a mile.

"That is a fine spear you have there," Minato said, eyeing the cursed weapon that had used so many times before. "A weapon that curses and forces a fate upon whoever you deem so, reversing the cause and effect."

Lancer widened his eyes at the boy this time. If he knew the cursed spear then he knew his identity as well but how...?

"How do you know...?"

"But you have to get to a certain range to take advantage of your weapon," Minato said. "And you will not, but even if you do..."

Lancer bolted, having heard enough of his rambling. He gripped the spear in his right hand while Minato simply raised his own towards the oncoming spear-man, launching a vortex of wind as soon as he saw Lancer plant his feet on the ground and lunge in with another stab which missed by a mile as the winds slashed across his body and launched him into the trees, back smashing against the trunk before he came crashing down.

Minato glanced at his palm and clicked his tongue but his resentment was once again cut short by the now irate servant who came back within seconds and hurled the spear for his chest, hissing when Minato moved out of the way and wagged a finger in his direction, coming back up with a standard saber he had materialized from a mid level persona-

The weapons clashed and the sparks scattered around the point of contact, widening the eyes of the spear-man when he noticed the weapon that he had summoned out of thin air in a blink of an eye. He pushed the question to the back of his head and pushed forward with more force, managing to drive Minato to his back-foot but the persona user quickly stepped to the side, blocking the reverse swing of Gae Bolg with the blade-

Minato kicked Lancer down to a knee and fired a slash for the back of his neck, which was parried upwards and servant retaliated with another swing of his weapon which made Minato back off but the distance quickly closed as the two of them ran at each other again-

The cursed spear repeatedly struck his weapon, with the servant firing dozens and dozens of thrust in rapid succession, each one faster than the one before but Minato saw the repeated volley, backing off and resetting whenever Lancer got into mid-range. The servant cursed and constantly closed the distance, scowling and hissing at the shorter male whenever he withdrew, finally forcing him to lunge in a straight line with the spear swung for the neck-

A kick to the solar-plexus made the servant back off but he still hurled the tip of the spear for the heart, gasping when he saw the same flicker of blue around the teenager and with that, Minato closed the distance within a blink of eye, twisting his body to avoid the forward stab and pressing his right hand against the chest of the servant who looked him right in the eye, a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead as electricity crackled around the open palm of the persona user who held his gaze and mouthed-

"I gave you an offer..."

The volts channeled through his palm and exploded forward in a storm of electricity, coursing through the body of the servant and then blowing him backwards and out of range when the element detonated violently, scattering mist and dust around the persona user who was alone briefly, his gaze still fixed on the same hand he had used to channel the attack-

"Tch... something is amiss..."

His attacks were lacking something. Even without summoning the actual persona, his attacks were more potent than this-

Lancer emerged from the other side of the forest, panting and sporting a number of burn marks that came along with the volts that his body was forced to endure. He gave a much more different gaze to the other blunet this time, one of respect and a little thrill after the display of magic and he still had the feeling that the boy was holding back-

Lancer crouched down and hissed, with a distance of hundred feet between them. He took off like a blur, now even more determined to draw out the last bit of strength from his foe and Minato walked a few steps forward, switching and looking up to the skies, electricity crackling around his right hand as he called upon a dozen of bolts from the sky and they came crashing down in succession, targeting the incoming servant who managed to dodge most of them, but still getting blasted with damage until he finally closed the distance and immediately blocked the sword that was hurled towards his eye-

"Ugh!"

Minato's blade was parried upwards and he stepped to the side, blocking the swing that came for his side, breaking off to disengage and quickly clashing his blade to reflect the tip of the lancer to the side, utilizing simple footwork to reset and keep his distance, not giving the spear-man a chance to establish proper distance and generate power-

Another thrust breezed past Minato and the persona user pressured this time, with a slew of slashes which were deflected by the cursed spear, with each clash cracking the steel in the grip of the persona user. Lancer saw the cracks emerging and took the chance, pushing the persona user on the defensive with a rapid torrent intended to shatter the blade and leave his weaponless-

Minato evaded the last swing and brought the blade down, crashing the quarter of the steel left onto the cursed spear and the temperature immediately spiked up, the flames exploding like a tidal wave from the remains of the shattered saber and then collapsing on the blue clad warrior, silencing the impending yell of pain when all was lost in the heat of the attack-

Minato kicked the servant out of the spell and the impact hurled him into the dense network of trees. He bit on his lip and tried to figure out the end result of the battle as there was still so much he did not understand about the grail war.

"I can't be indecisive..." he muttered, clenching his fist. "But at the same time... I cannot be too sure of myself..."

He saw a little movement and the shadow of the servant rising up after a few moments and he moved into the forest, eventually coming face to face with a battered Lancer who was panting, the spear dug into the ground for support and yet he made no move to run off when he saw the wild card approaching. Instead, he gave a small smirk, briefly reminding Minato of a friend who used to battle for the trill and never backed down from a challenge.

"Your persistence is impressive," Minato complimented. "I will offer you one last time, leave and the battle is over."

"After what you did to me, no chance," Cu said, wiping the streaks of carbon off his face. He pulled the spear out of the ground and took the familiar stance, the exact stance that his persona took. "You can summon your weapon if you need to."

"I don't think I will need it," Minato said, gesturing towards the new environment they were standing in. There was a dense network of trees with barely any space to unleash the wide, looping swings that Lancer had previously abused. "Your spear is not ideal in this terrain and you will have to work a lot if you intend to remove me from here."

"You know of my spear and my identity," Lancer replied. "Then you must know... there are still ways to go with this."

Minato took a second to respond, even briefly lowering his head and breaking eye contact as a grimace formed on his features, only briefly and he quickly looked the red eyed male in the eye, shaking his head. "Your spear is useless against me."

"We'll see about that..."

The charge was much slower this time, partly due to the damage he had suffered and partly due to the change in environment that restricted his movements, allowing Minato to easily slip and slide from the barrage this time, not even boosting himself with buffs as he carried on circling around the battered servant, constantly guiding him into slamming his weapon against tree trunks, peppering him with short punches, kicks and spells that he unleashed whenever he saw an opening which was often with the constant feinting and gestures indicating that he would unleash spells-

Minato could see that his foe was almost enjoying the battle, even with the damage that was piling up on his body. Each thrust was followed by a grin, almost as if he was hoping that Minato would stop holding back and unleash his full power-

Another blast of crippling winds smashed the hound of Culan back first into the trees but he quickly looked ahead and saw the blue blur headed his way, forcing him to move out of the way of incoming knee that smashed into the trunk instead, giving him the brief chance to hurl himself at the shorter blunet, the tip of his weapon aimed for the head-

Minato tilted his head at the last second and was met with a kick to the stomach, forcing him a few step backwards. He looked above and avoided the roundhouse as Lancer used his spear to launch himself at the Messiah, foot brushing against his fringe-

Minato mobilized the servant in mid-air with another storm of wind, gritting his teeth and concentrating more of his spiritual essence, switching to a stronger persona and blowing the blue warrior high into the skies with a stronger Garudyne, catching the screams of his foe when his body was slashed apart by the gales of wind and he was sent soaring upwards-

Minato blinked the blood out of his eye and caught the servant regaining his composure in mid-air and he came crashing down like blue lightning, gripping the spear with both hands with his red eyes widen open in a mixture of determination and thrill, locating the throat of the blunet among all the green gales and the crimson liquid of his own flesh-

"Switch,"

A switch to Kali was made just when Lancer within in striking distance and the servant was ripped apart with a number of phantom slashes that Minato evoked from within, the blades of fury lashing out at the blue warrior who intentionally had no idea where the attack was coming from but eventually, he saw the almost minuscule razors of physical energy which he started deflecting, now very well aware that a defeat was a very, very strong possibility.

Who in the seventh hell was the guy?

He did not seem particularly skilled or strong but even just standing he was capable of conjuring various elements, boost his speed and defense and dish out a slew of almost invisible slashes, hundreds of them within a span of a few seconds. All he did was whisper and the attacks just exploded from within him and yet through all of that, Lancer knew for a fact that he was holding back.

The calm, almost relaxed expression on his face made that very clear. Even his stance was lazy, not fit for a serious battle as he had several vitals parts exposed and yet he was not able to pierce a single one, even with the weapon longer than his height.

The final razor struck his chest and Lancer collapsed to the ground, coughing out blood but he stood back to his feet, widening the eyes of Minato when he saw that he was missing chunks of flesh from his body which was abused with fire, wind and thunder and yet he was standing, his armor shattered and his blue suit dyed crimson. He gave a nod of respect and gestured towards the exit of forest one last time-

Lancer spat out blood and readied his spear, cloaking the cursed weapon in a surge of red mana and glaring towards the Messiah who did not seem too bothered by the flare of energy around the weapon. In fact, the grimace was back on his face but he discarded the emotion and glanced ahead, wagging a finger to inform him the attack was going to be useless-

"You were right about this terrain being difficult for a polearm," Lancer said, freezing the mana in the as the flare of red energy around his weapon grew more fierce and erratic, crackling with red bolts but Minato remained at the same spot, frowning at the build up of mana. The strike was going to be deadly and lethal but-

Lancer finished the charge of his noble phantasm and twitched with unmistakable excitement, pretty confident that the attack was going to push the boy to the limit and yet, a glance at his passive face pissed him off. Either he was invulnerable or he was just stupidity arrogant in his abilities.

"I'll have your heart!"

Lancer yelled at him-

The servant took off, shattering the ground when he planted his power leg to stabilize his balance and jerked his spear in the direction of his foe-

"Gae Bolg!"

A beam of red light exploded from the cursed spear, in the direction of the blue haired persona user, placing a curse as his fate was sealed long before Lancer had even yanked the weapon in his direction and yet-

"What the!?"

The beam of red light that had previously wounded Saber, the extension of the cursed spear that was capable of moving in impossible directions to strike the victim of the cursed fate moved in a straight line, without bending and twisting almost as if the spear was struggling to find a target, aimless and without direction, as if no curse was placed in the first place-

The questions exploded inside the mind of the blue warrior. At first he was intrigued by his power but now, he was befuddled by his existence.

What on earth was he...?

Minato swatted the beam of red energy to the side and the attack was potent enough to cleave through the trees around him, with almost the entirely of the surroundings trees came crashing down, whipping up several layers of dust and sand. The crash of the trees echoed in the dead of the night and Minato gingerly walked forward, coming into the view of Lancer who was rendered shock still after what had happened.

This had never happened before.

His spear had never failed to pierce the heart of a target.

He could understand a mixture of luck and instinct would mitigate a fatal blow but what had transpired made no sense.

"Your heart..." Lancer took a second to process his failed noble phantasm. "What kind of a freak are you?"

The expression on Minato's face shifted, bitterness and rage evident from the words of Lancer. He spat out in disgust and made a mad dash towards his weakened foe, switching his persona and trapping the limbs of the the spear-man in thick blocks of ice, rendering him immobile. Lancer struggled to break free but the persona user closed the distance within seconds, switching his persona and making the servant gasp out loud-

That split second-

His stance shifted-

So did the air around the boy-

Lancer blinked to get rid of the supposed hallucination but the sight remained-

"..."

He felt as if he was staring into a mirror, seeing his own self charge in his direction-

His coward master was right to fear him.

The person before him was an enigma, a true wild card in the Holy Grail Wars-

Minato channeled another burst of wind in his left hand and crashed the same fist against the paralyzed servant, with enough force to free the spear-man from his icy binds and launch him towards the skies-

"Tch!"

Lancer flipped in mid-air and summoned Gae Bolg into his grip for one last ditch effort, quickly charging up mana into the his second noble phantasm, intending to blow the messiah to pieces with his most powerful-

"I will have YOUR heart..."

Lancer froze in the middle of his attack when he saw the surge of red down below. He quickly located the source and his body visibly reeled in shock when he saw the exact same spear in the grip of the blue haired teen who was charging up the same attacks from seconds ago-

Minato glanced up and shook his head, almost disappointed that it had come to this as he had given him so many chances to escape but then again, he could tell that the servant was much like Akihiko, a junkie high on the rush and thrill of a battle, too proud and honorable to turn his back despite being outmatched-

"Gae Bolg!"

Minato hurled the spear towards the heart of the servant and much like earlier, the beam of light exploded from the edge of the spear, twisting and turning as it located the cursed heart without trouble, and while Lancer tried to cancel his own attack and move back, his attempt was as futile as he knew because his fate was decided long ago and the thrust of the spear was a mere formality as the ray of light caught up to him within seconds and flashed, blinding his vision-

The spear shredded through the flesh and pierced his heart like it was destined to, exploding outwards from his back with a shower of crimson failing from the skies as Lancer hacked out blood, his heart stopping and his limbs twisting as he fell from the skies and collapsed next to the feet of Minato in a bloody heap, gravely injured from the spear and exhausted from the depletion of mana-

He took a glance at the weapon in the grip of his foe and sure enough, it was the cursed spear, Gae Bolg, the exact replica of the spear he wielded. He chuckled despite being close to death, not even attempting to wonder why he did not bother ending the fight during the first exchange as he was certainly capable of doing so with the spear as even he was not safe to the curse of the spear. He was an enigma after all, now painfully clear from the short and one sided battle.

"I am not going to bother asking you where you got this," Lancer said through his coughing. "But why... why did you drag the battle when you could have finished this at any time?"

"I have my reasons," Minato replied, crouching down to his level with the spear still in his grip. "Why are you in this? What do you hope to gain from this senseless Grail Wars?"

Switch.

Lancer widened his eyes as the aura around the teen shifted yet again, this time it was warm and comforting like he was looking up at...

"Scathach..."

"I have no interest with the Grail," Lancer admitted. "I have no regrets in my life and so the Grail is of no use to me. I am here for the thrill of battle but..."

"..."

"I will do what needs to be done," the blue warrior said with a bitter sigh. "What I was told..."

He coughed out more blood and laid his head against the ground, still glancing up to the victor of their battle. There were so many questions and now that he was going to die, he did not have to answer to his coward of a Master but he needed to know, for his own sake because at times, it did seem like he was battling a mirror image of himself among so many other legends.

"Who are you...?" Lancer asked. "After our duel, you at least owe me as to who I battled against."

Minato said nothing for a few seconds and just sat there contemplating. Eventually, after careful consideration, instead of answering of question, he shattered the cursed spear in his grip much to the shock and surprise of the battered servant. Lancer was not sure whether to be surprised that he was able to shatter the weapon or at the fact that he basically broke the curse and saved his life.

"W-What the hell are you doing?"

Minato stood up and started walking towards the exit of the forest, looking back at the servant who was no longer cursed to die. His injuries were still extensive and severe but given his insane endurance and pain tolerance, Minato was somewhat confident that he was going to live another day. He gave a short sigh and lamented at the damage to the forest but at the same time, he could tell the area had to be destroyed, much like the church.

"Never hurt an innocent ever again," Minato warned. "If you want the thrill of battle then you will know where to find me, otherwise, keep away from participation in this blasted tournament."

He looked back and regarded the fallen servant with a nod of respect before heading out of the forest, disappearing from the sight of Lancer who was left to ponder.

After making sure nobody was in the vicinity of the battle, Minato started running backwards towards the house of Shirou, having got a basic idea of his place in the Grail Wars. Truly, he could have finished the battle at any time he desired but he also wanted to see how he would fare against the heroic spirits of the world and with Lancer of the benchmark, he was moderately confident of his chances against the rest as the Lancer class was pretty gifted according to what Rin had said earlier.

They were just ONE heroic spirit at the core, just ONE myth and legend given shape and form. Meanwhile, his soul was home to over a hundred at the same time, of every tale, legend and mythology-

Even with the defect...

"Tch..."

Eventually, Minato arrived at the Emiya Household and knocked on the door, having to wait for up to 10 minutes until he heard footsteps from inside the house. Shirou finally showed up and opened the door, half asleep but he quickly woke up when he recognized his visitor standing in the doorway.

"Oh, you're here!" Shirou said, taking a quick glance at the time. "You were gone for a while..."

"Sorry for waking you up this late but..." Minato said. "Is the girl still here?"

"Uh... which one are you talking about?" Shirou asked.

"The one who wanted to slice my throat..."

"Still not clear," Shirou scratched the back of his head. As far as he knew, both Rin and Saber wanted to slice his throat.

"That girl with black hair and... Rin. Rin Tohsaka," Minato remembered the name and blurted it out. "Is she still there?"

"No, she waited for a while and then left, calling you an idiot," Shirou recalled.

"I see," Minato said. "Do you know where I can see her?"

"Well, she will show up to school tomorrow but... from what I heard, she owns a large mansion at the southern part of Miyami Town," Shirou informed. "I'm not too sure but this is what I heard from the people at school."

"Thank you," Minato nodded and turned his back.

"Hey wait, are you gonna run all the way over there?" Shirou blinked. He ran to the church, then back and now he was headed for Tohsaka residence. What was the guy made of?

"I have no other way so yes," Minato looked back. "Be careful. We might meet again."

With that, Minato took off but he did not miss the shout of Thank You from Shirou. The streets were still devoid of people who there was no issue with a spam of speed spells to quicken his pace as he raced towards the south end but during his trip, he began to dwell on the battle with the servant.

Minato was still not sure whether he made the right call by crushing the spear and allowing him a chance to live. While he did seem like an inherently evil character, he was still under the mercy of his master who could command and demand anything from him and that much was confirmed from what he had said about doing what he was told.

But...

At the same time, taking such a drastic step without knowledge was plainly stupid. He had no idea how the Grail War worked and what would become of the fallen servants. If they were anything like his personas, they well disappear back into the sea of souls and would return upon his call but he was not ready to make the comparison just yet.

He needed to make sure and get some information before he could even think of killing a heroic spirit.

But...

At the same time, anything too inhumane and threatening to the people of the city, he was going to take drastic measure to secure the lives of the innocent people who were unfortunate to be caught up in the stupid, STUPID grail whole setup and rules reeked off suspicion and he doubted that the founders of such a brutal tournament were benevolent enough to simply grant a wish to someone who was worthy. No, there was surely something else going on, something far darker and threatening than a simple cup that was purported to grant wishes.

Minato arrived at the Tohsaka residence and the place was not that hard to find as it towered over everything and he could see the grand structure from miles away. He stood at the entrance and patiently waited for over 20 minutes until someone finally opened the door, a very irate and half asleep Rin who seemed ready to slice his throat for real-

"What do you-" She stopped midway and remembered the stranger at her doorstep. "Hey, it's you."

"Hey, I apologize for waking you up but I have something to ask-"

"Oh no, you don't," Rin spat, pointing her finger at him accusingly. "You did the same thing the last time and ran off, without even giving us your name! I am not answering any more questions until you do!"

"I have nothing to hide," Minato replied. "I am thankful for the info and I will tell you whatever you need to know. I owe that for the help you gave me but please, I visited the church and..."

"What about the church?" Rin rose a brow, having calmed down a little.

"I won't take much of your time-"

"Come inside," Rin said, opening for the door for him. "We can talk there."

"Thank you..."

Tohsaka guided him into the living room and Minato saw that her servant was already there, standing by the window. He regarded Archer with a nod but the servant did not reply and merely kept the stare on him. He sat on the sofa and Rin sat on the single sofa opposite to him.

"Very well, continue," Rin said.

"I visited the church as you said but... I could not last very long in that rotten structure," Minato explained. "I saw the priest too but he tried to push me out as soon as he saw me."

"That is... strange," Rin murmured. That did not seem like Kirie at all...

"This might come as a surprise to you but do listen to what I am saying," Minato looked her in the eye. "That church is rotten."

Archer heard his words and moved towards the two.

"There is something very wrong about the place," Minato continued. "Under the floor, I am certain he is keeping something or someone under the floor of the church, in the basement."

"I did get a strange vibe from the church but..." Rin bit her lip. Even though he was her teacher, Kirie almost seemed like the shady type and the church was far from a holy place like he advertised, even she could sense that much. "Did you do anything about it?"

"Well... I was about to but I needed permission from you," Minato replied, scratching the back of his head. "You do know him so doing something without informing you would just be wrong."

"... Did you seriously run all the way here to just let me know?" Rin blinked in complete surprise.

"Yes?" Minato nodded. "You did help me somewhat, even if our conversation got off to the wrong start."

"You're a weird one," Rin said simply. "You are almost like Shirou but different."

Archer scoffed, mostly to himself.

"You have my permission to find out what is under the church, but," Rin stood up and smirked. "I will be going alongside you."

"Are you sure?" Minato blinked. "It will be dangerous, given how shady the priest is and the agony I felt from under the floor."

"Are you worried about me?" Rin said, blushing a little with the corner of her lips twitching.

"Well yes, I will be more vulnerable if someone else is along with me-"

"I don't need your concern!" Tohsaka yelled at him, effectively silencing him mid-sentence. Minato simply tilted his head to the side, having no other option but to glance towards the passive servant and then back at Rin who was flustered. "I can take care of myself! In fact, I am only going because I know you'll get into a mess!"

"Huh..." Minato hummed. She did remind him of Yukari, except for the fact that when flustered or annoyed, Yukari's face would twitch in anger. Rin on the other hand, he saw both her face and hand twitch as if she was ready to release a scathing response and tear his head off at the same time. The thought amused him and he chuckled softly.

"Archer will come along with me," Rin said, this time with a smile. "If what you are saying is true, I need to see for myself."

"Then I am telling you right now," Minato stood up. "If it is vile, then I WILL punish him. My gratitude towards you will not stop that."

"Very well, if it is vile then I will help you," Rin assured and then yawned. "You calculated this didn't you? Showing up when I'm sleepy so I wouldn't get to ask you questions."

"No, actually, I was caught up in a battle," Minato explained, momentarily wiping the sleep out of her eyes. "Against Lancer and that took a while."

"Did you win?" Rin asked.

"Well yes, I am here so I did win," Minato said.

"Ugh, I have so many questions but I'll ask you tomorrow," Tohsaka groaned. "You don't have a place to stay, do you?"

Minato just shook his head.

"Ugh," Rin sighed in annoyance, crossing her arms. "Fine, you can stay here. We have a spare room if you want to sleep there."

'I'll be fine just here, thank you," Minato said, gesturing to the living room. He had no plans to sleep but he was not going to say no a good rest.

"You better not run off. I've already prepared questions that I'm gonna ask you, so stay here for the night!" With that, without a proper goodbye, the girl strolled up the steps and Minato was left alone with Archer with an awkward silence between them.

Archer glanced at his chest and then took a look at his face. There was no wound from what he could see, even after a duel with the deadly and agile Lancer. Minato sat down on the couch but he was sure that the servant had his eyes on him the whole while. He said nothing in response and leaned his head back, just staring up at the ceiling until the man clad in red disappeared from the living room.

Minato was left alone to ponder upon his second day in the new world.

He had gotten some answers but the questions had increased ten-fold.

Tomorrow night, he was hopeful that he would get more answers out of the sham of the church.

At the end of the day, he still found it hard to wrap his head around the concept of the war and the participants, especially after his duel with Lancer who truly did not seem interested in any sort of wish as his persona told him that the servant was not lying.

At times like these, he would turn to Junpei or Yukari. If they were not available, he would seek Mitsuru or counsel, and then Aigis, Akihiko and so on and so on. At the very end, if no one was there to help him, Pharos would appear at the edge of his bed and try to cheer him up the best he could.

Minato looked to the side and hoped, prayed to God that Pharos would appear, or even Ryoji but...

He was alone.

Alone in the new world.

Minato buried his face into his palms and thought back to the disaster at the seal. Every walking second of his time, he would try to theorize what had happened but he had no answers.

The only solace he could find was to save the people of the city from the Grail War.

After that...

"What will I do?"

"Where will I go...?"

Even if he returned to his old world with a miracle.

Minato glanced at his self in the mirror ahead of him.

"How can I go like this...?"

"..."

* * *

**Even with the spare time I have, writing is so hard right now. The words just don't flow as they used to but... I guess sitting at home for weeks does that to you. Anyway, promises promises so here it is. Just to be sure, I like Lancer a lot. Easily my second favorite servant of FSN but Minato was just a horrible match up for him and this was a build of lore more than a battle, just to showcase and give a little insight into his power and mindset.**

**I find it hilarious tho, looking at the wiki article you would think Lancer is invincible given his NP but lol, the spear fated to pierce every heart misses every time and the only heart it pierced was his own. Lol, guess that is what E level luck does to you and by that token, the moment Minato hurled gae bolg, the battle was over.**

**He did not project the weapons (even tho I am sure Archer can teach him but... eh) He summons specifics parts of his personas, like the other characters in P4A and speaking off, thank God for that game. Made writing so much easier since all we had earlier was gameplay and that shitty movie. To those who did not play, spamming spells is possible without summoning personas. In fact, I urge you to watch a simple clip in case you want to know where this all came from.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed and I promise, I will keep this going. Do review me your thoughts and I'll see you soon. This was my first servant battle in a looooong while so do fire opinions and if there was anything I missed. **

**Also, again, be careful guys. These are crazy times we are going through so everyone take care and be careful, same goes to family and friends. **

**God bless!**

**Cheers!**


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